Fair-lead for hoisting-cables.



No. 823,414. PATENTED JUNE 12, 1906..

S. L. G. KNOX & W.- B. MAGIE.

PAIR LEAD FOR HOISTING GABLES. APPLICATION FILED 0013.20, 1905.

4 SHEETSSHEET 1.

No. 823,414. PATENTED JUNE 12, 1906. .S. L. G. KNOX & W. E. MAGIE.

PAIR LEAD FOR HOISTING GABLES. {LPPLIUATION FILED 0002.20, 1906.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

PATENTED JUNE 12, 1906,

S .E L n C G Rm .T Wm X m NF m WB L .R SI A P APPLICATION FILED 00120.1905.

4 SHEBTQ-SHEET 3 men/Z5723 Jay.-

PATENTED JUNE 12, 1906.

S L G KNOX & W E MAGIE FAIR LEAD FOR HOISTING GABLES.

APPLIUATION FILED 00120, 1905..

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

. ing boom, and

the power-shovel type having the invention axial alinement UNITED STATESPATENT OFFICE.

ELSTON MAGIE, OF SOUTH MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN, ASSIGNORS TO THE BUCYRUSCOMPANY, OF SOUTH CORPORATION OF WISCONSIN.

MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN, A

FAIR-LEAD FOR HOISTING-CABLES.

To all whom, it may concern: Be it known that we, SAMUEL LIPPINcoTT lGRISWOLD KNOX, residing at Milwaukee, and WILLIAM ELsToN lVIAGIE,residing at South Milwaukee, county of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, citizens ofthe United States, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inFair-Leads for Hoistin -Cables and we do hereby declare the folIowin tobe a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as willenable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and usethe same.

The invention relates to hoisting mechanism for excavators of a typehaving a swing has for its object to provide a fair-lead, located at thefoot of the boom, for leading the cable or cables from the point of thesheave on the boom to the winding-drum on the supporting structure, saidfair-lead being so constructed and arranged with respect to the boom andthe su porting structure as to easily and accurate y guide the cable orcables from'the boom to the drum in all positions of the boom. To thisend the invention comprises a? sheave-stand supported upon an axis sub-istantially parallel with one of the cable-leads and a guide-armconnected to said stand to swing the latter, said guide-arm beingconstrained to remain in substantial parallelism with the other cablelead or leads, whereby the sheave is caused to lie in the plane to thecable-leads for all positions of the boom.

In the accompaying drawings, Figure 1 is a partial side elevation of anexcavator of applied thereto. of, showing the Fig. 3 is a plan Fig. 2 isan end view thereboom swung to one side. view showing the boom in withthe supporting cara corresponding view showemploying the invention inconnection with two hoisting-cables in a power-shovel in which thedipper is suspended from two points.

Referring to the drawings, a indicates the car-body of a powershovel,upon the forward end of which is supported a boom 7), which is adaptedto be swung to the right and left during the operation of the shovel, as

body. Fig. 4 is ing the mode of Specification of Letters Patent.Application filed October 20,

I caused to lie in the as will be understood by those skilled in thePatented June 12, 1906. 1905. Serial No. 283,671.

art. Said boom is mounted upon the swinging table e, which in turn ispivoted upon a vertical stud g at the forward end 01* the car- 5 body,said stud finding its support in a bracket f, attached to the car-body.

In apparatus of this character it has been the practice to lead thehoisting-cable, which consists of a steel rope or chain, from thewinding-drum, located upon the car-body or other support, over thepoint-sheave at the outer end of the boom to the bucket. Inlorder toguide the hoisting-cable as it passes onto the boom, it has usually beenthe cus 6 5 tom to provide two or more guide-sheaves near the base ofthe boom, one of said sheaves being mounted upon the boom proper and theother upon the car-body or other support. This arrangement is expensiveand diflicult of maintenance and also causes considerable Waste of powerand wear on the cables.

The present invention is designed to avoid the difficulties inherent inthe old forms of guide-sheaves by providing a fair-lead in which asingle cable-guiding sheave will be plane common to the leads of thecable or cables as they pass from the boom to the winding-drum. Theimproved fair-lead consists, essentially, of a framework h, journaledfor rotation on a horizontal axis at one end in a bearing 71, mountedupon a suitable bracket 7' on the car-body, and at the other end upon apin 1), in axial alinement with the bearing i and mounted in a verticalstud 0, projecting from the upper face of the stud 9, upon which theswinging table e is j ournaled. J ournaled in the opposite side platesof the frame h is the fair-lead guide-sheave n, which of course partakesof the rotary movement of said framework about the horizontal axis ofthe latter. In order to facilitate the free passage of the cable 0, thejournal end of the frame h, which engages the bearing 11, is made hollowand the cable is passed therethrough. It will be noted that when theboom 1) is in axial alinement with the car-body a the cable 0 runseasily over the guide-sheave n; but when the boom is swun to the rightor left the lateral I00 strain imposed upon the cable would tend tothrow the same out of the groove in the said sheave it unless the latterwere caused to move with the boom, so that it would lie in substantiallythe plane defined by the two leads of the cable. In order to insure theproper movement of the sheave to prevent unshipping of the cable andalso to prevent any undue lateral strain being put upon the sheave, theframe h is connected with the boom, so that it is caused to swingtherewith. The connection between the boom 1) and the frame h consistsof a hollow forked guidearm 7c, the forked end of which is swiveled tothe frame It by means of pivot-pins Z, engaging the opposite side platesof said frame, and the opposite trunnion-like end of which is attachedto the boom by means of a yoke or strap m, which closely embraces theround end of the guide-arm and causes the latter to move with the boomand at the same time permits it to rotate freely therein.

In order that the fair-lead as thus constructed may operate easily andfreely in carrying out its function of guiding the cable from the boomto the winding-drum and to avoid the necessity of providing loose orwabbling joints, it is desirable to so construct and arran e the partsthereof that the approximate y horizontal axis about which the frame hswings, the vertical axis of revolution of the boom, and the inclinedaxis of the guide-arm 7c shall intersect at a common point, which in theform of the invention illustrated lies in the axis of the pivot-pins Z,connecting the guide-arm is with the frame 71. With this arrangementthere is no wa'bblin motion at the joint where the guide-arm c engagesthe boom, and the only movement of the guide-arm is one of rotation inthe bearin -strap m on the boom.

n certain types of excavators wherein the dipper is suspended andoperated by means of two cables attached at separate points on eitherside of the axis of the boom and said cables are led over thepoint-sheave along the boom to a double-groove winding-drum on thecar-body it is essential that the fair-lead be provided with a sheave toaccommodate both cables in order that the cables may run side by sideand be accurately guided as they leave the boom. To accomplish this, thefair-lead sheave is provided with two grooves, as indicated at n n inFig. 4. With this arrangement it will be noted that when the boom isturned around a full ninety degrees from central position the planes ofthe two ropes Where they pass through the swivelsheave of the fair-leadwillbe tilted only about forty or forty-five degrees from the verticaland that the cables will both enter and leave the swivel-sheaveperfectly free from interference.

As hereinbefore described, the apparatus is applied by mounting theframe h upon the car-body and securing the guide-arm to the boom; but itis to be noted that the arrangement may be reversed without de- 6 5parting from the invention or changing its general utility and mode ofoperation'that is to say, the frame h may be mounted upon the boom andthe guide-arm 7c connected to the car-body, provided, of course, therelation of the parts with respect to the common point of intersectionof the axes of rotation of the boom, the frame h, and the guide-arm 7cbe maintained.

It will also be understood, of course, that while the invention ashereinbefore described is particularly adapted to power-shovels and likeexcavators it is equally well adapted to other machines employing aswinging boom carrying a hoisting cable or cables running from a drum onthe body of the machine to the end of the boom, and it is intended thatthe claims shall be given a correspondingly generic interpretation.

Having thus described the invention, What we claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is-

1. In power shovel and like apparatus having a swinging boom and in wich the boom and supporting-body have relative movement, ahoisting-cable leading over said boom, an intermediate sheave forguiding said cable, a frame in which said sheave is journaled, and aguide-arm connected to said sheaveframe, said frame and arm beingsupported by the respective relatively moving arts, whereby the sheavewill be caused to ie in the plane of the cable for all positions of theboom.

2. In power-shovel and like apparatus, a guide-sheave for thehoisting-cable, a frame supporting said sheaveand journaled on an axissubstantially parallel with one of the cable-leads and a guide-armconnected to said frame and to the swinging boom, whereby said sheavewill be caused to lie in the lane of the cable-leads for all positionsof the boom.

3. In power-shovel and like apparatus, a fair-lead for thehoisting-cable, comprising a sheave-stand supported upon an axissubstantially parallel with one of the cable-leads, and an arm connectedto said stand and constrained to remain in substantial parallelism withthe other lead of the cable, whereby the sheave is caused to lie in theplane common to both leads of the cable for all positions of the boom.

4. A fair-lead for power-shovel and like apparatus, comprising aguide-sheave mounted near the foot of the boom, and means for movingsaid sheave to lie in the planes defined by the cable-leads for allpositions of the boom.

5. A fair-lead for power-shovel and like apparatus, frame in which saidsheave is journaled mounted near the foot of the boom, and means formoving said frame to cause the sheave to lie in the planes defined bythe cable-leads for all positions of the boom.

comprising a guide-sheave, a

6. A fair-lead for power-shovel and like apparatus, comprising a sheavefor guiding the hoisting-cable from the foot of the boom, a pivotedframe in which said sheave is journaled, a guide-arm connected to saidframe, and means for moving said frame and guidearm concurrently withthe boom, to cause the sheave to lie in the planes defined by thecable-leads for all positions of the boom.

7. A fair-lead for power-shovel and like apparatus, comprising a sheavefor guiding the hoisting-cable from the foot of the boom, a pivotedframe in which said sheave is j ournaled, a guide-arm connected to saidframe, and means for moving said frame and guidearm concurrently withthe boom, to cause the sheave to lie in the planes defined by thecable-leads for all positions of the boom, the axes of rotation of theboom, the sheaveframe and the guide-arm intersecting in a common point.

8. A fair-lead for power-shovel and like apparatus, comprising aguide-sheave for the cable as it leaves the boom, a frame supportingsaid sheave and j ournaled on an axis substantiallyparallel with one ofthe cable-leads, and a guide-arm connected to said frame and to theswinging boom, the axis of rotation of the boom, the sheave-frame andthe guidearm intersecting in a common point.

9. In powershovel and like apparatus, having a pair of hoisting-cablesrunning over a swinging boom, a fair-lead for guiding the cables as theyleave the boom at its lower end, comprisin a sheave having means forguiding the ca les, and means for swinging the sheave with the boom sothat said sheave shall at all times occupy a plane parallel to that ofthe cable-leads.

In testimony whereof we affix our signatures in presence of twowitnesses.

SAMUEL LIPPINCOTT GRISWOLD KNOX. WILLIAM ELSTON MAGIE. itnesses:

RIDGELY FLETCHER, HARRY B. HAYDEN.

